


Before the Storm

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Blood and Gore, Edward is tired, I Tried, Missing Scene, hopefully not graphic though, references to canon-typical blood and gore body horror and nightmare fuel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 21:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: Missing scene from "Struggle of the Fool." After escaping the false Portal of Truth, Edward has to do something to keep his automail from getting gummed up. Apart from that, he's been up all night and would really rather not deal.





	Before the Storm

The water hit Edward’s aching shoulders in a thin and half-hearted splatter. It was only lukewarm, smelling faintly of chlorine and metal from the pipes, but at least it was clean.

Ed ducked under the spray, letting it run through his hair. The stench of rust (and worse) slid over his shoulders and down his back to run down the drain. It was more comfortable not to think of it, though… He would have thought he’d be used to this sort of thing by now.

Life was an exercise in being grateful for tiny mercies.

Still… at this temperature, the water didn’t do much to penetrate the ache or disperse the tension in his shoulders and lower back.

He reached for the soap.

Might he and Alphonse actually be _related_ to the homunculi somehow?

The very thought made him want to gag. Still, a scientist had to be relentless in pursuit of the truth, even those truths that might be personally unpleasant.

 _Especially_ those, he amended.

Blood tended to clot after death, had to be kept in very specific conditions to prevent that. However, it wasn’t unheard of for blood to subsequently liquidize again… what, exactly, was in Gluttony’s stomach to make an ocean of blood stay liquid?

Although, it could be something to do with the fact that there was no way a sea of blood that size could have come from Gluttony’s victims. Maybe it was preexisting—dating from the creation of the failed portal.

Although, he added as an afterthought as _something_ he didn’t even want to think about rolled from the joint of his automail with a nasty wet _squelch_ , that didn’t mean it wasn’t coagulating _now_ —

Crap.

Hurriedly, Edward pressed his palms together, then put his left hand on his right arm, breaking down fats and proteins into something less _sticky_. Brownish-grayish dust sluiced out of the plates and down the drain, and Ed breathed a sigh of relief. He probably should remove the shell and do some more thorough self-maintenance soon, though.

He repeated the transmutation on his leg.

“Brother, what are you doing?”

“Um… transmuting blood into its constituent elements,” Ed called back over the running water.

“What?!”

“Trust me, you should be glad you can’t smell anything right now.” _Next time I see Gluttony, I am going to knock his block off. Actually, the next time I see that Father guy… Both. Both of those._

_Thanks a lot, Ling._

Ling. Ling was…

Edward didn’t want to think right now, thank you very much. He’d much rather let the water get cold and stand under it until he developed hypothermia.

Instead, he went over himself once more with the soap, combing his hair out as best he could with his fingers. Best not to let the tangles stay and get ratty. It wasn’t easy—Ed definitely didn’t want to put the harsh lye soap in his hair—but he finally managed to get the last of the nastiness out without resorting to a pitiful attempt at transmuting the dirt out of his hair, which was likely as bad an idea as harsh soap instead of shampoo.

He’d just have to wash it again later, when they had time. Maybe even turn the water as hot as he could stand and just soak. That was one nice thing about automail—as long as you kept it well-insulated, it would radiate heat right back into you for a long time after a hot bath.

Edward reached over and shut off the water.


End file.
